The Obama administration, in a move aimed at reviving Afghan peace talks, has sweetened a proposed deal under which it would transfer Taliban detainees from Guantanamo Bay prison in exchange for a U.S. soldier held by Taliban allies in Pakistan.

The revised proposal, a concession from an earlier U.S. offer, would alter the sequence of the move of five senior Taliban figures held for years at the U.S. military prison to the Gulf state of Qatar, sources familiar with the issue said.

U.S. officials have hoped the prisoner exchange, proposed as a good-faith move in initial discussions between U.S. negotiators and Taliban officials, would open the door to peace talks between militants and the government of Afghan President Hamid Karzai.

The revised proposal would send all five Taliban prisoners to Qatar first, said sources who spoke on condition of anonymity. Only then would the Taliban be required to release Sergeant Bowe Bergdahl, the only U.S. prisoner of war.

Previously, U.S. officials had proposed dividing the Taliban prisoners into two groups, and requiring Bergdahl’s release as a good-faith gesture to come before the second group of prisoners would be moved out of Guantanamo.

Bergdahl, now 26 years old, disappeared from his base in southern Afghanistan in June 2009 and is believed to be being held by Taliban militants in northwestern Pakistan.

The White House and the Bergdahl family declined to comment on the revised proposal for a deal.

The altered transfer plans were discussed with Qatari officials during a visit in mid-June by Marc Grossman, U.S. President Barack Obama’s special representative for Afghanistan and Pakistan, the sources said. It was unclear if the altered proposal had been put forward before those discussions.

Qatar, which is hosting a number of Taliban officials, has played a key role in almost two years of initial, secret discussions between U.S. officials and representatives of the shadowy militant group, which remains a formidable enemy in Afghanistan even as U.S. and NATO troops begin to withdraw.

As part of a process the Obama administration hoped would lead to substantive talks on Afghanistan’s future, the Taliban’s leadership had planned to formally open a political office in Doha. But the Taliban announced in March it would withdraw from the talks, citing what it said were inconsistencies in the U.S. negotiating position.

U.S. officials are now cautiously seeking to prepare the ground for a resumption in talks. But any negotiations involving the Taliban, even preliminary ones, could pose a political risk for Obama months before the U.S. presidential election.

15 Responses

A Democratic delegate says if he gets in, the next 4 years will the worst America will ever experience. When will O be putting in the Islamic law approval dept? All legislation will be approved for cultural sensitivity by these muslims before becoming law. Then its over for America.

The sole historical problem of the region is Medieval anti-Indian Arab/Muslim Imperialism which produced this artificial and absurd nation named Pakistan.
Just imagine how can there be Two Punjabs and Two Bengals which have always been indivisible and integral parts/provinces of India?
We say One China, then how can we say Two Punjabs and Two Bengals?
Similarly, by dividing India, we have created Two Indias in the form of Pakistan and India. Pakistan chose the Arab group of nations as their family due to Islam but in fact it is India, it cannot become Arab.Not only this, Pakistan has opted for a still more dangerous and risky path, of becoming the producer of “the Islamic Bomb”, thus more complicating the already complicated situation. Against whom Pakistan is so much arming itself? India has never attacked any nation in history.On the contrary, India has faced and suffered constant invasions and aggression through out history. Pakistan’s fear of India is totally ill-founded and without any basis. Pakistan has always attacked India and tried to take Kashmir by force.
Peace can only be established when Pakistan would accept that it is India by all means, and live peacefully with India. Pak/India problem is nothing but Imperialism Vs the local people fighting it. Pakistan itself has been a victim of it, but it has taken wrong side due to religious factor which is strange.

Many attempts have been made but our liberal media has covered it up because they do not want the American people to know Obama is so disliked nor do they want the attempted assasins motives made known. American people might find out what Obama has done if their motives are disclosed! I find it funny that Obama thinks he such a asset to America because of his ability to relate and communicate with Islamic countries all the while they have no respect for him and laugh at him and it is also MUSLIMS who have attempted to kill him and are
serving prison time for it! I read about one the other day I had never heard about from the mainstream media. I think Obama helps cover these up as well because he does not want the American people to know the dangers of Islam nor does he want to look stupid because HIS RELIGION OF PEACE KILLS THEIR OWN PEOPLE TOO IF THEY DISAGREE WITH THEM ! What a BAFOON we have for president!!

I wish Obama had not been elected but I would never wish that any of our Presidents were removed from office by assination. Please stop hoping for that! If anything, having Obama as President is showing more and more the true colors of the anti-Amercan liberal Democratic party. Hopefully in this coming election more people will question theirselves and the goals of the Democratic party.

I don’t think anyone really hopes he is assassinated, however the truth is the truth and I would rather see him fall than my country fall.I love my country and we can get a new president but we can never attain a new country.I think you are wrong about people seeing his true colors. People are too busy with their lives to care and alot of them do not understand or grasp the dangers Islam poses and do not care to enough to get educated. As far as Obama goes, there is nothing for America to gain by ANYONE assassinating our president.he has a insurance policy that deters anyone from even thinking of
assassinating him. Its called JOE BIDEN!

Its a shame this country got suckered by this Muslim scum. The liberal media continues to carry his water. Americans best wake up because four more years of this Devil will be the end of America as we know it.

[…] as he approved release of the Pan Am bomber and cut the sentence of an al Qaeda financier and is negotiating to release Taliban, he won’t hesitate to do this when the time is right. Right now, it is a convenient […]